Chuck vs Santa's Reindeer
by Poa
Summary: On the heels of vs. Santa Claus, an accident at Buy More leaves Chuck's head in the clouds. Can Casey and Sarah get him back down to earth?


This scene occurs after Chuck vs. the Santa Claus…

Chuck vs. Santa's Reindeer

Chuck surveyed the Buy More with a critical eye, taking in the damage and mess with a heavy sigh. Christmas décor lay strewn about, lights dangled from the ceiling and boxes littered the aisle ways. Several employees were cleaning up, or at least moving stuff around in the attempt to look busy. Last night's hostage crisis weighed heavily on his mind. His hands trembled when he thought about how close he came to losing Ellie and his friends. And he couldn't shake the image of Sarah killing the Fulcrum agent. He felt sick and dizzy. After getting home last night, he threw up and then collapsed into a restless sleep. He wondered briefly if he should just turn around and go home.

"Chuck," Morgan greeted him. "Crazy night, huh? Just look at this place!" He gestured at the scene that lay before them. "Big Mike says we all have to clean up 'cause he figured it was cheaper for us to do it than to hire those people Casey suggested." Morgan walked over to where Jeff and Lester were working, standing on ladders and unhooking a large wooden reindeer from the ceiling.

Chuck glanced around and spied Casey sitting in front of a BeastMaster grill, polishing the metal surface. A pair of crutches rested against the grill. "Big Mike wouldn't let you off for your injury?" Chuck asked. Casey grunted and continued polishing. Chuck lowered his voice. "What's going to happen now? I mean, what 's Beckman say?"

Casey looked up at Chuck. "I haven't heard anything yet. We might have to take you in."

Chuck's stomach churned and he felt the blood drain from his face. "Oh." He turned away and started walking toward the Nerd Herd desk, passing between the ladders Jeff and Lester were using. Morgan, calling out advice to Jeff about how to best unhook the reindeer, realized what was going to happen and tried to warn Chuck, but he was too late. Jeff tore the metal hook from the ceiling and the heavy piece of wood ripped through his hands, swinging in an arc toward Lester's ladder. Chuck walked directly into the falling reindeer, and there was a loud, solid thump as the wood connected with Chuck's forehead. He fell backward, unconscious.

"Chuck, wake up," Morgan implored, kneeling at Chuck's side. Jeff, Lester, and several employees surrounded Chuck.

Casey hobbled through the crowd and also knelt down. "Chuck," he said, slapping Chuck's face lightly. Chuck groaned.

"Give the kid some room," said Big Mike, plowing through the crowd. "Someone get him a glass of water." Big Mike pushed Morgan aside. "Chuck, you okay?"

Chuck looked around at everyone and tried to sit up. "Whoa there, kid, take it easy," Big Mike said.

Morgan leaned over and showed Chuck two fingers. "How many fingers do you see, Chuck?"

Chuck shook his head. "I'm fine, Morgan. What happened?"

"You got clocked by Santa's reindeer, that's what happened," answered Morgan. Chuck sat up and took Morgan's hand to steady himself as he stood. Chuck looked at Jeff.

"Sorry," Jeff said, shrugging his shoulders.

Big Mike clapped Chuck on the back. "All right people, nothing to see here, get back to work. Chuck, come to my office."

Chuck sat down at Big Mike's desk. "Sure you're all right?" asked Big Mike.

"Yeah, just a nasty bump is all," said Chuck.

Big Mike rifled through some papers in a drawer. "I'll give you the rest of the day off…with pay, of course." He laid a paper and pen in front of Chuck. "Just sign this waiver form, you know, just to say you're okay and won't sue me later, then, you can go home and take it easy."

Chuck smiled wryly and signed the note, at least he could go home now, and he _was_ still feeling sick.

As Chuck gathered his stuff from his locker, Casey approached him. "I'll find you at home and let you know what Beckman decides," he said.

Chuck furrowed his brow. "Beckman? Is that someone who wants to work here? Well, I don't care; if he's a friend of yours, I'll recommend him to Big Mike. See you tomorrow, Casey." Chuck left the store, leaving Casey with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

Casey pressed a button on his cell phone. "It's me. I think we have a problem."

Chuck found the apartment empty when he got home. Awesome and Ellie had decided to spend the day together at the park, to wind down from the events of last night. Chuck lay on his bed, not sure if he could sleep, but too tired to do anything else. The blinds rustled and Sarah climbed in through his open window. "You alone, Chuck?"

Chuck stood up and walked over to Sarah, giving her a long hug. "Hey, you are just what I need right now," he said.

Sarah hugged him back with a puzzled look on her face. "Casey told me you hit your head at Buy More, are you okay?"

Chuck sat on the bed and patted the space next to him. "Yeah, I even took the two-finger test, I'm fine." Sarah sat beside him. "How about you," he asked, "are you okay after last night?"

Sarah's tone of voice became serious. "I'm fine. In fact, we need to go to Castle for a debriefing."

It was Chuck's turn to look puzzled. "What are you talking about? What is Castle?"

Sarah looked into his eyes. "You don't remember Castle?"

Casey met them at the Orange Orange. Sarah led Chuck down the steps into Castle and Casey asked, "So what's up?"

Sarah showed Chuck a place to sit, and she walked away with Casey, lowering her voice. "He doesn't remember working with us."

Casey glared at Chuck. "He doesn't remember us?"

Sarah shook her head. "He remembers me as his girlfriend and you as his co-worker, but he doesn't remember anything about the Intersect, the CIA, the NSA, nothing." She bit her lower lip. "As far as I can tell, he only remembers that Ned took hostages at the Buy More last night, and that the cops arrested him. He doesn't recall anything about the Fulcrum agent or anything associated with the Intersect. It's as if he blocked out that part of his life."

Casey pulled out his phone. "I'll talk to Beckman."

Sarah walked back to Chuck and gave him an encouraging smile. "This isn't good, is it?" Chuck asked. "I mean, this feels like some kind of sick joke or something. You aren't my real girlfriend?" Sarah shook her head. "Oh," he said, looking up as Casey gestured at Sarah.

She walked over to him. "Beckman says we have 24 hours to fix this, or else he goes underground forever." He paused, and then said, "I _could_ try hitting him on the head again."

Sarah shot him a serious look. "I don't think that's the problem. I think that his mind used the injury as an excuse to forget the traumatic events last night. I mean, we know that Mauser knew Chuck was the Intersect, and the only way he could have known that is if Chuck told him. If he knew about Chuck beforehand, why stage the hostage situation at all? He could have grabbed Chuck anywhere." Casey grunted in agreement and Sarah continued, "Something must have happened to make Chuck reveal himself, maybe Mauser threatened Chuck directly, or maybe he threatened his family."

Casey looked at Chuck, who had laid his head on the table. "So, how are we gonna get his memory back, then?"

"Chuck, I want you to look at some photos," said Sarah. Chuck raised his head. "Okay." Chuck flipped through a book of images, some were maps, others were faces, and still others were seemingly random pictures of animals and inanimate objects. He tried to focus, knowing this was important to Sarah, but he didn't have any of the "flashes" she had described. Part of him felt like this was all a stress-induced nightmare; and he would wake up and Sarah would just be his girlfriend again. Hours later, after reading mission reports, reports in which he played a major role, he was no closer to remembering his secret life.

He looked hopelessly at Casey and Sarah, "I'm sorry."

Casey stood up in frustration and poked a finger at Chuck's head, "C'mon you knucklehead, I'm just about ready to beat your memory back into you!"

Sarah stood up. "I'm taking him out of here."

Casey's voice softened slightly, "We are running out of time and you want to quit?"

She nodded, "It doesn't matter; this isn't helping anyways."

"I guess Casey is pretty mad at me," said Chuck as Sarah led him out of Castle.

"Casey is just…Casey. Don't mind what he says, you'll remember in your own time. What you need is a break; we've been at this all day." They climbed into Chuck's Nerd Herder.

"Where are we going, Sarah?"

"I know a nice place, where you can relax a while."

The beach was nearly deserted; an elderly couple was gathering up their grandson and his beach toys. The sun hung low in the sky and a cool breeze began to blow across the water. Chuck walked ahead of Sarah and stood at the water's edge, watching the sun slowly sink. She waited a moment, then pulled a small bag from her pocket and joined Chuck. "I wanted to give this back to you," she said, pulling the charm bracelet out of the bag. Chuck looked at the bracelet and flashed on Sarah, his mind full of violent images from her past life: guns, explosives, and a knife fight. The final image, however, was Sarah's face, smiling at him. He blinked rapidly as his memories slammed full force back into the forefront of his mind. He stumbled and Sarah grabbed his arm. "Are you okay?" she asked him, suddenly afraid that the bump on the head was a more serious injury.

"I gave that to you last night, and just after that, Fulcrum found me." Sarah let go of his arm and shivered; the cool breeze had become cold. Chuck took his Buy More jacket off and helped her into it.

"You remember," said Sarah.

"I do," Chuck started, "But I let you down, Sarah, I told him I was the Intersect." He looked out over the bay.

"Chuck," Sarah began, "It's okay, you did what you had to do."

Chuck hesitated. "Sarah, I saw you kill the Fulcrum agent."

She looked down at the sand, silently cursing.

Chuck lifted her chin with his hand, so that she looked into his eyes. "I want you to keep this, always" he said, taking the bracelet from her fingers and placing it on her wrist.

Sarah took a deep breath, "I shot him to protect you, Chuck."

Chuck gave her a smile, "I know." Chuck took her hand and they walked down the beach, not saying anything, just feeling the warmth of each other's hands, oblivious to the sinking sun and the cold breeze billowing around them.


End file.
